Midweek Classics Program Notes: Kuerti plays Schumann, November 26, 2008

Midweek Classics Program Notes: Kuerti plays Schumann, November 26, 2008

Kuerti plays Schumann
Wednesday, November 26, 2008 - 7:30 pm

Claude Lapalme, conductor
Anton Kuerti, piano

Due to a scheduling conflict, Julian Kuerti, originally scheduled to conduct, is unable to appear. Claude Lapalme, frequent ESO guest conductor, has graciously agreed to conduct.  Beethoven's Leonore Overture No 3 has been replaced in the program by Beethoven's Coriolan Overture.

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BEETHOVEN
Coriolan Overture, Opus 62 (8)*

SCHUMANN
Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54  (30)*
    Allegro affetuoso
    Intermezzo: Andantino grazioso
    Allegro vivace
    Anton Kuerti, piano

INTERMISSION

DVOŘÁK
Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op.88  (37’)*
    Allegro con brio
    Adagio
    Allegretto grazioso – Molto vivace
    Allegro ma non troppo

*indicates approximate performance duration

Program Notes - Kuerti plays Schumann

Coriolan Overture
Ludwig van Beethoven
(b. Bonn, 1770 / d. Vienna, 1827)

First performance: March 1807 in Vienna
Last ESO performance: May 2008

“My brother in Apollo”
The way Beethoven referred to his friend, playwright Heinrich von Collin

It was not Shakespeare’s version of the story of Coriolanus that resulted in the Coriolan Overture, but a play by Beethoven’s friend Heinrich Joseph von Collin, which had premiered in 1802. Both versions derive from Plutarch, whose works Beethoven also knew. Beethoven’s overture so completely captures the main dramatic elements of the play – both the external conflicts between the Romans and the Volsicans, in which Coriolanus found himself in the middle of; and the contradictions within the tragic hero himself which doom him – that the overture can be thought of as a tone poem of the play – years before the idea of a tone poem had even been conceived. So powerfully did the work entrance its audiences, it spurred a new production of Collin’s play in Vienna.

Caius Marcius won a great victory for Rome, earning the honorary title of Coriolanus. He turns his back on the masses, however, and his pride earns their scorn. Rejecting them, Caius Marcius joins the Volsicans, bringing the Roman enemy to the gates of the city and laying siege. In an effort to prevent him from taking Rome, Caius Marcius is visited by his wife and his mother, who are among those trapped in the city. He is persuaded by them to lift his siege, but with his honour destroyed, he takes his own life. In both the Plutarch and Shakespeare versions, it is the Volsicans who kill him.

The overture begins with an ominous, powerful theme in C minor, which ends with fortissimo chords cut off abruptly. The second theme is a beautiful melody in E-flat Major – a key which Beethoven associated with heroic ideas (both his “Eroica” Symphony and his “Emperor” Concerto are in E-flat). We can fairly see the two contrasting main subjects as being that of Coriolanus and his mother. But we can also see them as portraying the conflicting elements, the pride, the arrogance, the rage, and the courage of the man himself.


Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.54
Robert Schumann
(b. Zwickau, Saxony, 1810 / d. near Bonn, 1856)

First performed: December 4, 1845 in Dresden
Last ESO performance: October 2004

"Just as Robert Schumann himself tottered at - and sometimes beyond - the edge of sanity, both in his music and in his person, the interpreter needs to approach that same edge and enter a world of utter whimsy, spontaneity, and nearly maniacal poetry and passion. It is curious that this composer, who is known to have been moody, silent and depressed much of the time, and even suicidal in his last years, brings us so much exuberance and unbridled exhilaration. That reflects the nature of Florestan, one of his two famous mythical alter egos, the heroic, daring and impulsive character. But even the magical introspective, delicate and intimate moments which represent the dreamy poet Eusebius, his other beloved character, almost never feel downcast or doomed (except for some portions of his last works); they are mostly ethereal, gleaming with tenderness and love. Clearly, the glorious universe created in his imagination is not congruent with the one he inhabited."
Anton Kuerti

If Robert Schumann’s one-movement Fantasie for Piano and Orchestra been a success, we would not have his one and only Piano Concerto – at least, not this one, which has become one of his best-loved orchestral works. The Fantasie was written in 1841 for Schumann’s wife, the celebrated pianist Clara Schumann. It was received tepidly, but rather than simply withdraw it, Schumann expanded it, adding a second and third movement. As a concerto, it has been well received since its 1845 debut.

The soloist enters right from the outset, and in defiance of classical convention, the theme presented by the piano dominates the entire melodic material of the movement. Its tone and presentation are presented in widely varying moods and colours.

In the beautiful second movement, piano and orchestra begin, but soon yield to a haunting theme heard in the violas and cellos. A passing reference to the first movement serves as both a unifying element, and as a bridge to the pianistically challenging Rondo third movement. Clever counterpoint and counter-rhythms course through this taxing and vivacious finale, leading to a coda filled with octaves for both soloist and orchestra.


Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op.88
Antonín Dvořák
(b. Nelahozeves, Bohemia, 1841 / d. Prague, 1904)

First performed: February 2, 1890 in Prague
Last ESO performance: November 2003

“You certainly would have been pleased with this performance. All of us felt that it is a magnificent work, and so we were all enthusiastic. Brahms dined with me after the performance and we drank to the health of the unfortunately absent father of (the symphony). Vivat sequens!”
A letter from Hans Richter, who conducted the January 1891 Vienna premiere of Symphony No. 8, which Dvořák was unable to attend

It was Johannes Brahms that had introduced Antonín Dvořák to Brahms’ publisher, Simrock. The young Bohemian composer had made Simrock a lot of money, thanks to works such as his Slavonic Dances, and his shorter piano pieces. Understandably, Dvořák not only wanted to write works in larger forms, he hoped and expected that the publisher that had gained so much from him might pay him a fair price for a new symphony.

Yet the haggling dragged on, to such a point that five years passed between the completion of Dvořák’s Seventh and Eighth Symphonies. Eventually, Dvořák gave the new symphony to a British publishing house, Novello. This led some early on to coin Symphony No. 8 the “English” Symphony – which is actually absurd, as the work is probably the most Bohemian-influenced and Bohemian-sounding symphony he ever wrote.

Dvořák wrote much of the symphony at his country home at Vysoká, and we are in nature from the work’s opening measures. The G Major work actually begins quietly and even a little darkly in G minor, until a bird call on the flute (Elizabeth Koch) ushers in a bold and bright main subject in the work’s home key. The opening, minor-key motive returns, serving as a transition following the exposition, and again, it is a birdsong in the flute that ushers in a host of new melodic ideas, all of which are painted in rich, pastoral shades. While the work eschews a formal sonata-allegro blueprint, the two principal themes are ever present, and unify the movement with clarity and grace.

The slow second movement begins almost unsurely, phrases beginning, then pausing. Another bird call, however, intrudes repeatedly, and seems to shake the doldrums. The strings take up the bird call with bolder strokes, and we are led to a picture of a Bohemian village, gently at first, then richly and with fanfare and ceremony. The mood becomes gentle again, then darkly dramatic. The quiet merrymaking also returns, and the net effect of the movement is that of a tone poem, embracing a day of peasant life.

The A-B-A-C third movement begins with a waltz-like theme, again with twittering birds accompanying it. It is contrasted by an equally amiable folksong-like theme first presented on oboe (Lidia Khaner), then taken up by the strings, before the dance theme returns, clothed in slightly richer hues. An unexpectedly buoyant final section sets up the fourth movement.

The final movement is a patchwork of many musical ideas, led by a bold fanfare, and a variation on it. This variation is the main theme of the movement, which takes on broader and increasingly rousing guises. At times, the joy seems almost manic, and while the central section (ingeniously also based on the main theme) is tender and bucolic, it yields to the energy and verve that dominate this rich and rowdy finale.

Program Notes © 2008 D.T. Baker

Program notes © 2008 by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and its respective annotators. All Rights Reserved. Program notes may not be printed in their entirety without the written consent of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra; excerpts may be quoted if due acknowledgment is given to the author and to the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. For reprint permission, contact D.T. Baker, Music Resource, by email, dave.baker@winspearcentre.com.

These notes appear in galley files prepared for Signature magazine, official publication of the ESO, and may contain typographical or other errors, or may differ from the final print version. Programs and artists subject to change without notice.